Tricks and Training

I'm still "new" in the world of dog training, so can you explain to me what the purpose of mat work is? Looks interesting!

As for me, I have just recently started clicker training, and sweet Jesus what is this magic. Maggie LOVES it and I LOVE it and things are going so much faster and more precise and clickers are witchcraft.

She's just perfected "bow," so we're beginning work on "back up." She picked it up fast and is going a few steps back pretty reliably. I'm a total nOOb to clicker training, so it's probably taking us a bit longer than all you super fancy experienced folk, but I'm getting the hang of it quickly!

We got our first dog tricks performance gig so we're adding new tricks left and right here! Glad you revived the thread!

A selection of the current tricks (Z, Kes, Snipe):
http://youtu.be/XQrMga5rHxw

Kes doing his packing trick at the DockDogs Eastern Regional "DockDogs Has Talent" competition (after all of 5 training sessions - I'm a baaaad procrastinator):
http://youtu.be/XapO1Q332mE

Aeri's new "act", needs polishing still:
http://youtu.be/0X7lM9Qq1Xw

Today when it wasn't my turn in agility I really inadvertently taught Summer how to roll a giant bottle across the ground. My trainer was using it for the later class but it was right next to us and summer kept trying to target it so I clicked and really quickly she was getting on her back feet and rolling it with her front a couple feet.

I love it when dogs come up with their own tricks.

Finally! Snipe's footstall training vid is up!

http://youtu.be/-AEV7C8iVhE

That's awesome you started marker training!! It's so fun especially when the dogs start catching on. You need to get some videos!

My goal for mat training is to work on having a place they can't leave until released, something I can take with me to trials and places and have them hold a stay on it but with looser requirements (you can be relaxed and shift around, just don't leave the mat). A place to calm down and relax and to also build up on duration stays. Kinda like crate work but without the crate.

I'm sure there are more professional reasons for it, but that's my main goal so far!

Watching Erin's video has made me want to start training again as well. Possibly reviving the Click It fb group I hade.

I've got to start trick training again... I just started working on a nice, solid "hold" with Kimma to get her ready for formal retrieves. She will DO the retrieve, but I inadvertently taught her to drop the object at my feet rather than wait long enough for me to take it from her when I feel like. So I got PART of the retrieve down, but not all the way. I also want her to be able to hold whatever I ask, so that will hopefully come about, too

I would also LOVE to teach her the handstand! Anyone have any tips for getting started? She has nice rear end awareness, and backs up just fine on command (including backing up on to stairs/boxes, etc.). But for some reason she just won't put her back feet on a wall LOL.

All our training right now is boring. Stays, crate games, getting Summer to play (mouth the toy right now), and getting Mia to sit at my side instead of always turning to face me.

Oh! Laurelin! I thought of you today - Kimma actually played with a toy in a random field! It was a miracle. So much so that I had to take a video of it:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=905497708419

Of course, she lost interest in it pretty soon after I started recording

And she still wants to come back for a food reward after interacting with the toy.

YAY I'm so glad this thread is revived!

We should ask a mod if we can move this into the photo section so that we can embed videos. I mean, I know it's not pictures but I really like having the ability to watch videos in thread. Does anyone care? Yay, nay, indifferent?

I think that's a good idea! OR someone could make it so we could embed video's here. Pretty please?

But moving it to the picture section sounds fine too! I like being able to embed also

Yes please - embedding would make things so much easier when sharing our progress!

Three ayes is enough for me, I'm flagging your post so that a mod will see the request.

Edit: Well I was going to flag it but then warning on the flagging bit scared me off. LOL. I'll PM Renee and Zoom instead.

:rofl1: I was going to say that if you got me banned I would haunt you

Well you'd have to come to Colorado to haunt me so maybe I'll go back and flag your post after all. :lol-sign:

Woooooooo! Love this thread.

What my crew and I are up to:

Zuma

Disc Dog Tricks (We have our first comp tomorrow!!)
-Polishing our leg and chest vaults. Most of this is just getting my throwing down.
-Flips, again need to get my throwing down but also am working on getting Zuma more comfortable with tracking the disc and flipping.
-Back stall, haven't started this one yet but have it on our radar.
-Walking weaves between the legs
-A cool super secret trick beginning with Zuma coming between my legs and then flipping out to catch a disc

Agility
-Proofing those dang weaves in a trial setting. We are working in collaboration with a fellow trainer with this one, amping our dogs up by making them watch each other in high-excitement exercises and then sending them through the weaves.
-Wrapping jumps, on on-going battle with the wide swinging girl.

Everyday Stuff
-Not guarding her crate when dogs walk past in a trial setting
-Perfecting her right pivots in heel, she currently swings a bit wide and I want it tighter.
-Building excitement into heel. She is working really well with toys now in this aspect and is no longer forging ahead. We are doing a lot of heeling and then sending her for a go around behind me to retrieve a toy.

Zinga
Herding
-She had an initial evaluation done and we set up a training plan to bring her out once a week or so until she "notices" that sheep are fun. At that point she will be off of sheep until she matures. I will probably test her with them again around 10 months or so to see where she is at.

Agility Foundation Funstuff
-Crate games! We have awesome crate games at home and are now moving them to novel places. It's tough in a new place and she is hesitant to return to her crate currently. She holds her stays very well despite the location and will only exit the crate when released. We are working on building her confidence in the crate without me in sight in new locations as well.
-Wobble boards/moving things. She looooves wobble boards and the exercise pads. We started the skateboard a couple days ago and she was not concerned about it at all!
-Targeting with back feet. She's picking up on this but we haven't really worked very hard on it yet so I can't give an accurate update.
-Tug. Tug is going very well, she hangs on for dear life and will do other behaviors on cue to be able to tug. We tug, I ask her to release and then ask for a down or hand touch and then release her to tug again. I am working on her initiating the game currently and she will for a few sessions but then will move off to chew on the toy by herself. Still a huge improvement from even a week ago!


Everyday stuff
-Heel. She has a really nice foundation for her flip finish and we are working on leg targeting. Will upload a video of this soon!
-Mat work. She is staying on the mat for a variety of distractions currently including tons of handler movement (running away from her, running in circles, jumping jacks, etc) and toy distractions including throwing the toy and releasing her to it. I am working on duration next.
-Non-formal retrieve. She is a natural at this but I think I pushed it too far too fast which has led her to not wanting to bring toys back. So we are shaping it and it's going very well!


That's it for now. Classic is continuing working on not being an A**hat and actually its going very, very well.

Oh right I suppose I could post what we're working on.

Murphy
Trick training - because OMG he is so fun to shape. He gets SO excited and happy, it's adorable. Right now we're working on walking in between my legs backwards and forwards.

Mu
- Continuing agility training. We just finished our second class (Sequencing and Handling) and I'm super ridiculously proud of both of us. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing but I've gotten a TON better and she's just a freaking natural. We ran a 10 obstacle course for graduation (started with backchaining) and did PERFECT.
- More trick training. Currently working on picking up objects and holding them until I ask for them and on only releasing objects into my hand.

Tipper
- Making shaping fun. We've been doing multiple short sessions so that she doesn't start frustration barking and it seems to be working pretty well.
- Start agility/rally classes. The intro to agility class keeps getting pushed back. >.< Until then I'm working on pivot with her because it's fun (even though it makes me dizzy lol).

Greta (who I'm putting in here even though I'm pretty sure she's going to get adopted fast)
- Sit to say please. She's actually really good at this already, we just need to generalize it.
- General house manners, like NOT helping yourself to things on the counters/coffee table/end tables/my hand.
- Taking correction and backing off. She'll take correction but all it really means to her is "Go three feet away and bark my head off" and then run back over and whack them with my paw.
- Not getting twitchy when we reach for her collar. This is entirely our fault, we snag her and throw her in the kennel and I didn't set up the snag with AWESOMETHINGS right off the bat.
- Bite inhibition. She's a hand nommer and bites way too fricking hard when she's playing. I'd like to smack whoever thought it was a good idea to play rough with her when she was a wee puppy.


Wow I have a lot of work to do with Greta LOL. Most of it is stuff I do automatically anyway though so it just gets worked on when she's out of her crate.

I need to do some wobble board stuff, I've neglected it a lot!

Here is the second day of Didgie's mat work.

Mat Work Day 2

She broke a few times but went back to the mat fast. And giving Traveler any kind of attention or food is incredibly hard for her

And here is day one of our pivoting into heel

Pivot Day 1

It needs to not be so hot out, makes for blah dogs when it's near 100 out.

Eden - We're working on her Advanced Trick Dog Title. Nothing in specific, just whatever I feel like when we train. I really lay off her in the summer because she HATES the heat.

Kastle - I want to do an "all the finishes I can do" video with him really bad so I've been dabbling with doing all of his different finishes consecutively. It's super fun for me and he seems to get really into it I'm also working on the handstand. Right now he'll throw his back legs out to the first step and then one leg he'll do the second step but his big, floofy tail is ALWAYS IN THE WAY for the other leg so I always have to move it and then lift that leg. Recently, he's been trying to get his leg around the tail so we'll see if that transfers.

Limit - Just introduced him to perch, backing up and putting his feet on things, spinning, recall (restrained and for toys), tugging like a maniac, pottying on leash and on command, and to all the agility equipment yesterday. He's pretty cool.

Here's my first (well, second, but it has been a while) session working to shape a solid hold with Kimma:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=104CWpD5PNg